Category: Newspaper Columns

Newspaper columns that I have written for the Fern Ridge Review in Veneta, Oregon and the Creswell Chronicle in Creswell, Oregon. I began writing them for the Fern Ridge Review on August 4, 2010; on December 6, 2012, the Creswell Chronicle began printing them, as well. I am still the Lorane columnist for both papers.

Sweet Lorane Community News – October 28, 2021

October 28, 2021Newspaper Columns, Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
October 28, 2021
By Pat Edwards

This week, I’m putting the final touches on the 2021 Groundwaters anthology. It contains 177 wonderful stories and poems by over 75 local authors and poets. Here’s a portion of my preface to this book:

“This, the 7th annual edition of our Groundwaters anthology, will be my last. It’s not that I don’t love doing the intricate work involved in fitting so many pieces and elements together into one cohesive book—I do love it. But, I’m finding that it’s taking me longer and with the advancing years, I find that I’m not able to design, multi-task or figure things out nearly as well as I used to. I don’t want to reach that point where the quality of my work begins to noticeably ebb, because my goal has always been to showcase the work of our authors and poets in the best way possible.

“I wish I could have used all of the stories and poems that were submitted this year, but 200 pages is as large as I wanted it to get. We have been able to give almost all of our contributors a place to shine. You’ll find work from established, published authors to those who will be seeing their work in print for the very first time. That’s the way all of us who have published Groundwaters have intended it to be. Each of the pieces included represent the voice of someone who deserves to be heard…”

I’m having to try to get the book through review and sent off for printing in the next couple of weeks before our daughters, Gloria and Michele, and I will fly off to New Mexico to pick up a beautiful 8-week old (by then) English Mastiff puppy named Grizz to bring home. Grizz will never be able to replace Gloria’s Cappy, but he will provide the love, loyalty and companionship that has been missing since Cappy died. As a puppy, he will be able to grow up with Gloria’s little 2-year old granddaughter, Calliope, and become her guardian and friend.

We’ve always been a family that tends to adopt rescue dogs and cats, but with a breed like a Mastiff, it’s never sure if behaviors they’ve picked up in their past will work out with small children, especially. So, when a puppy in Texas was advertised, Gloria’s sister, Kelly, who has long been on the board of a dog rescue group, checked out the breeders, thoroughly, and they passed with flying colors. Because Gloria doesn’t want him flying in cargo on a plane, we will pick him up in a rental car and drive him home to Oregon with us. It will be journey we are all looking forward to making for a new furry family member, and Jim will hold down the fort at home.

Life is busy these days with lots of choices and decisions to be made… not all good. But it’s so important to look for the positives and appreciate the blessings.

Sweet Lorane Community News – October 21, 2021

October 21, 2021Newspaper Columns, , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
October 21, 2021
By Pat Edwards

A sense of almost-normalcy has begun to settle over the Lorane and Crow communities. Jim and I have recently had the opportunity to join our neighbors and friends in fun evenings of “dessert and bingo” at both the Lorane and Crow Granges. I notice that the Creswell Grange is reactivating their “third Wednesday” night bingo sessions, too. Of course, masks are worn by those in attendance and, except for family groups, we socially distance ourselves as much as possible. The masks don’t keep us from chiding the bingo caller if he makes a wrong call or, more importantly, yelling “BINGO!” at full voice before collecting a prize off the table or a $5 to $10 bill. None of us there are going to get rich from it… but, that’s not why we’re there. Most of us come to visit with friends and laugh and tease each other in a way we haven’t been able to do since Covid shut us down socially. There’s always the hope that we’ll be the one who eventually wins the big blackout prizes at all three places, but those times don’t come around very often. The consolation of $25 at each place is an incentive to keep us trying, though.

The next dessert and bingo night at the Lorane Grange is scheduled for Friday, November 12, at 7:00 p.m. and the next Crow Grange event will be on Saturday, November 6. If you haven’t had a chance to visit neighbors for awhile, plan on joining us. I, for one, am hoping that they are harbingers for things to come beginning in the spring. I look forward to the many events we enjoyed in our communites before the pandemic shut us down.

There are some fun Halloween events coming up in the next week. In Lorane, Shauna Doughty and her family are once again offering the community a FREE “Haunted Barn of Old Lorane” event. It will be open Halloween weekend, October 29, 30, and 31. “We’ll start at dusk. We ask that everyone please respect and follow all COVID rules, as we will also.”

The Lorane Christian Church will also be hosting its annual “Trunk or Treat” event on Halloween night, October 31, 2021, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in their parking lot. Participating families can decorate their car trunks or cargo areas for Halloween and offer treats to the ghosts and goblins that arrive. Usually coffee, hot cider or cocoa and snacks are offered to those who want to stay and visit.

The Creswell Grange will also be hosting their 2nd annual Halloween Trick or Treat event on Sunday, October 31, between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.

A Lorane community event to celebrate the completion of the Stony Point segment of the Territorial Road project is scheduled to take place on Monday, November 8, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Lorane Grange.

The Crow-Applegate-Lorane schools’ fall sports programs are coming to an end for this season with post-season play. The Crow High School volleyball team has been named “first-seed” in the league and they will be heading to the playoffs and possibly the state tournament in Redmond, Oregon.

The Crow High School football squad is scheduled to play in the league’s “first-ever” 6-man playoffs soon.

Go Cougars!

Sweet Lorane Community News, October 14, 2021

October 14, 2021Newspaper Columns, , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
October 14, 2021
By Pat Edwards

Unfortunately, our Kansas City trip did not turn out the way we had hoped. Oh, we had a great visit with family the first night we got there on Wednesday… and we were able to attend the beautiful wedding… and Jim did look extremely handsome… but it did not end well.

The day after we arrived, our daughter, Gloria, got a phone call from her sisters saying that Gloria’s beautiful English Mastiff dog, Cappy, was not doing well. He seemed to be suffering separation anxiety when we left. He wouldn’t eat and was reluctant to go outside. As Gloria’s constant companion, and normally a sweet, loving dog, he became despondent and a bit surly. By the day of the wedding on Friday, we knew that something was terribly wrong with him. Kelly and Michele suspected he had suffered a stroke and was becoming more and more unresponsive. They tried getting him in to see every veterinarian in Lane County, but could not be guaranteed an appointment. Finally, on the day of the wedding, his regular vet told them to bring him in at 2:45 that afternoon and they would try to see him as soon as they were able.

With Kelly and Michele’s help and Jim’s and my full support, they were able to get us an early flight out on Saturday morning so Gloria could return home to be with Cappy, in hopes that he would respond to her presence. As soon as our plane landed at 11:30 that morning, Kelly took Gloria to the vet’s office where Cappy had spent the night, and Michele drove Jim and I home. As soon as she saw him, Gloria realized that Cappy was basically “gone.” He was breathing, but there was no recognition and no response to any kind of stimuli. As she held him, sobbing—and as her sister, Kelly, held her—Cappy was mercifully allowed to cross the “Rainbow Bridge.” Our whole family is heartbroken.

Too many times, Jim and I have had to say “goodbye” to our own very special “fur-babies.” It’s perhaps one of the hardest things we’ve had to do in life. Over the years, pets have been special members of our family who gave unconditional love and it’s so hard when we lose them. Many have been rescues, so our time with them is frequently much shorter, as it was for Gloria and Cappy. In these days of the pandemic, political tensions, mask mandates, distrust of life-saving vaccines and stress of everyday living, our pets are important family members that provide a steady, comforting sense of normalcy to our lives.

Jim and I relish the joy we were greeted with when we arrived home. Toby and BB (our dogs), and Jo-Jo and Oreo (our house cats)—even our outdoor kitty, Xena—were all, obviously, happy to see us. They provide a stability that we especially need in this phase of our lives.

Bless them all, and Rest in Peace, Sweet Cappy.